Below Stairs

Below Stairs is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high....

Cooking and cleaning before the modern stoves etc

By
Jean
on
07-07-13

The Mistresses of Cliveden

Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home

By:
Natalie Livingstone

Narrated by:
Elizabeth Knowelden

Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins

Unabridged

Overall

92

Performance

82

Story

81

An immersive historical epic about a lavish English manor and a dynasty of rich and powerful women who ruled the estate over three centuries of misbehavior, scandal, intrigue, and passion....

disappointed

By
Galina M.
on
11-14-16

If Walls Could Talk

An Intimate History of the Home

By:
Lucy Worsley

Narrated by:
Anne Flosnik

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Unabridged

Overall

161

Performance

136

Story

135

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up....

Bill Bryson did it better

By
Marie
on
07-06-12

To Marry an English Lord

By:
Gail MacColl,
Carol McD. Wallace

Narrated by:
Kate Reading

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Unabridged

Overall

211

Performance

194

Story

194

From the Gilded Age until 1914, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles....

Love Downton Abbey?

By
Charlotte Steinbrenner
on
02-16-15

Queens of the Conquest

By:
Alison Weir

Narrated by:
Julia Franklin

Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins

Unabridged

Overall

23

Performance

19

Story

19

The lives of England's medieval queens were packed with tragedy, betrayal, love, warfare, adultery, and mystery - but their stories are obscured by centuries of myth and prejudice....

Narrator completely kills this book

By
afCindy
on
10-04-17

Publisher's Summary

How a nation grew into an empire and the birth of a modern society

The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted view of the 19th century. The early Victorians were much stranger than we usually imagine, and their world would have felt very different from our own. It was only during the long reign of the Queen that a modern society emerged in unexpected ways.

Using character portraits, events, and key moments, Paterson brings the real life of Victorian Britain alive - from the lifestyles of the aristocrats to the lowest ranks of the London slums. This includes the right way to use a fan, why morning visits were conducted in the afternoon, what the Victorian family ate, and how they enjoyed their free time, as well as the Victorian legacy today: convenience food, coffee bars, window shopping, mass media, and celebrity culture.

Story

Brief, But Insightful

The biggest criticism anyone will ever find on a "Brief History Of" book is how much is left out. There are volumes upon volumes of histories of Victorian Britain out there, but this one is a social history. Names, dates, and events are used as touchstones here and nothing more; the real attraction is the Victorian society itself. The etiquette, protocol, fashion, habits, beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles are put under the spotlight. Everything from bowler hats and hoopskirts to calling cards, curry, technological innovation, and Imperialism are looked at in terms of what it means to have these things as a part of everyday life. The queen herself and her prince consort are given a brief biography with the understanding that their examples set the stage for the transitions that had already begun when Victoria took the throne and seeing them through to the beginnings of the first world war. As an entry point into this era of history, this book is perfect for understanding why things were as they were, and it provides several launching points for further exploration. For those who already have the history under their belts, this book fleshes it all out from a more human perspective than a dry narrative might otherwise provide.

Mark Meadows is a fantastic narrator for this. His easy-going delivery makes this book even easier to connect with, and the result is the brief time you spend will seem even more brief if you're remotely inclined towards the subject matter.

Very well done!

As brief histories go, this one is extremely well done. Paterson's social history of Queen Victoria's reign is short on generalizations and dense with well-organized and meaty information about everything from architecture and furnishings to food and fashion. He stresses in particular the social revolutions that took place thanks to innovations in transportation and literacy during the Victorian era. Throughout his study, Paterson draws attention to how thoroughly life transformed from the beginning of Victoria's reign to its close, and how this age of intense change (both physical and intellectual) not only set the stage for much of the world we've inherited globally in the twenty-first century, but also marks the experience of that time as one that resembles our own more closely than we might realize.

Colonel Blimp rides again!!

The first 2/3 of this book is very enjoyable. It explores the customs and etiquette of Victorian Britain, detailing how life changed over the 60 years of the Queen's reign. It is obvious that the author is only interested in the lives of the upper classes, but that is understandable in that the literate, wealthy segment of a population often leaves more documentation of their lives. The section on how the bicycle and the underground changed life is very interesting. However, when the book discusses Britain's colonial legacy, it becomes rather hard to take. Patterson states that even though it is currently 'unfashionable' to defend colonialism, he feels that Britain benefited the countries it occupied by bringing them roads and education, culture and Christianity. He admits that the jobs for which education would prepare the native population would probably not be available to them anyway; he does not seem to realize that an alien culture and religion might not have been welcome 'gifts'. Neither does he address the steady stream of archaeological and cultural treasures systemically looted and sent back to England. This defense of imperialism is an odd sort of thesis for a 21st Century author, considering that the legacy of British rule has been ongoing strife in many of the countries it formerly controlled. The Irish Famine is dismissed in a sentence or two - by saying that the story that Queen Victoria only gave five pounds to famine relief is untrue. he does not say what, if anything, she and her government actually did. I would have enjoyed this book more had the author stuck to life in England, and left politics alone.

Mark Meadows does an excellent job narrating this book - his upper class pronunciation and mellow voice suits the material very well.

Some parts were very interesting some parts droned

What did you like best about A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain? What did you like least?

There was lots of interesting information. Im interested in history in general and learned quite a bit about Victorian England

If you’ve listened to books by Michael Paterson before, how does this one compare?

had no prior experience

What three words best describe Mark Meadows’s performance?

unobtrusive, steady, neither up nor down

Was A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain worth the listening time?

I would say so. There will be parts you kind of zone-out on, but the rest is worth while

Any additional comments?

I wish the book had been more in chronological order, but I'm satisfied with the time spent listening

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Overall

Nils

04-04-13

A joy

For anyone interested in this era, this is a really good place to start. True, the style is a bit dry at times - this tries to be comprehensive after all - but never boring. The reader tries his best to give live to the dry text and generally succeeds, aided by the relatively simple language. A gem for the interested layman.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

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Jim Barrett

11-29-15

Nevertheless.......

I made it to the end, but gained no new knowledge from this biased and poorly researched book. A better title might be "Life in Middle and Upper Class Victorian Britain". There are lengthy chapters on etiquette and office employment, but almost no mention at all of the lives and work of ordinary people, of their homes or of their way of life. Industry is almost completely ignored and anyone without prior knowledge would come away thinking that the hidden code of the lady's fan was central to Victorian life. The Empire is glorified, and stating that the spread of Christianity across the world was one of its beneficial achievements is quite amazing. I wish I'd counted the number of times "nevertheless" was used - twice in the audio sample alone. As for the pointless mid-chapter sub headings....... Best avoided.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

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Paul

12-30-13

Very enjoyable

I've got an interest in Victorian Britain and this book covers many facets is decent detail of how the Victorians used to live. One thing that stood out to me was the amount of wars that Britain had and the state of conditions that the soldiers needed to contend with. This book will definitely get a second read in the future although I will be reading Simon Schama's history of Britain first as I know this will be more in depth and cover a wider period.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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Teresa Cooper

12-05-15

What Vicky knew.

A good historical work on Victorian Britain, clearly well researched, and very well read. My only problem was the book became stodgy in places. But still readable and enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the Victorians or as a one of many source books for students.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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Ellie

10-20-15

Very Interesting

I found this book very interesting with lots of information, quite a few nuggets too that were completely unknown to me before. I found it did not flow perfectly in places but the narrator was very good which I felt made up for this. Had the narrator not been as good I may have given up after early on.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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K

01-22-17

A few inaccuracies

Overall it's a good audiobook outlining the Victorian Period.

However, early on in the book I noticed a few annoying inaccuracies eg: the author referring to Fanny Adams as a ''young woman cut up by her lover'' This is incorrect as it's well known that Fanny Adams was a 8 year old girl murdered by 29 year old bank clerk (not a lover!). Unfortunately, this glaring mistake made me doubt other facts. Narrator had a good voice though and on the whole this audiobook is ok.